Storms
by X3
Summary: Beka, Harper, and Dylan on a diplomatic mission, as you can expect things go badly
1. Just some rail

Storms

By:  X

X0832001@yahoo.com

Disclaimer:  I own nothing, I am getting no money for any of this.  Just the way I choose to spend my free time.

Rated:  PG-13 (a little bit of cursing)

Summary:  Beka, Dylan and Harper spend some time on a planet.  As one would expect, things don't stay real peachy keen.

            The rain was deafening as it beat against the windows.  The spray of water hitting the clear glass changed her view of the garden white and opaque.  Beka couldn't see anything in the dark night except the rain.  She sat in her bed on this alien planet completely unable to sleep.  This diplomatic function had gone late into the night and the leaders insisted the honored guests of Andromeda spend the night on the planet.  She hated planets.  This was one of the main reasons she hated planets, entirely too much weather.  Weather sucked.

            The thunder was like a huge bang.  It sounded like this world was coming apart at the seams and that scarred her.  It was so loud.  Then there was the lightening, it changed her dark room bright as day.  She knew electricity was jabbing into this fragile planet.  Beka knew that every bolt could be felling trees, starting fires or frying people.  Lightening was a dangerous force.  Beka hated planets.

            The storm sounds continued to fill the room.  Beka groaned; she was scared.  She didn't make a habit of being scarred.  Sure it happened, everyone gets scared sometimes.  Everyone has irrational fears and storms happened to be Beka Valentine's.  She extracted herself from the bed and started pacing.  

She paced around the floor in front of her bed, worrying about the noises from outside her window.  Picking up the headphones Harper had made her from the table beside her bed and put the shiny metal arch over her ear.  Beka turned up the volume on the screaming singer to drown out the weather noises but it didn't help.  Behind the intense drum beat Beka heard the din of the rain.  Thunder claps were louder than the soloist's shrieks and lightning still lit the room.    

            She couldn't stand being alone for one more moment. Clicking off the little music device she allowed her feet to carry her out of the spacious suite this alien government had provided and down the hall.  In the back of her mind she knew where she was headed.  She needed the comfort of being with a friend, to just not be alone.

            Harper was sleeping.  Curled up in his bed, completely oblivious to the thunder, lightning and flood of rain he slept with a little smile on his face.  Beka stood in the doorway looking at him but turned to leave.   She knew it wasn't often the hyper little engineer got a good night sleep.  He seemed more at ease on planets.  He loved Andromeda and her challenges, but he was born a mudfoot and would die a mudfoot.  Sky and dirt and weather were the things he longed for.  

            She was trying to make a quiet exit when a thunderclap that sounded like fireworks caused a yelp to escape her.  Harper sat up fast.  "Go back to sleep" she told him.  "I didn't mean to wake you."

            "All the times my screaming woke you from a sound sleep, honest, I owe you boss."  He didn't have to explain, she remembered what he was alluding to.  When Harper first came on board his nightmares made him scream bloody murder in his sleep.  Beka would come in and just sit with him.  Sit with him so he wouldn't be alone and afraid.  

He tapped the bed and she joined him.  They talked for hours.  They didn't talk about weather.  They didn't talk about storms.  Just as a few years ago they didn't talk about Earth.  They didn't talk about family.  Right now they just sat and talked about random things.  

They talked about this negotiation and how funny Dylan looked wearing the "Meeting of the Minds" helmet.  It was an undisputable part of this culture's diplomatic process.  The hat was a rainbow of colors, sequined in places and the bells jingled when he moved.  Beka complained it was just as hard for her to keep from laughing all day as it was for Hunt to wear that thing.  At least he couldn't see himself.  

But the Ichbeins took the hat seriously.  They took these negotiations seriously.  They wanted the protection of the Commonwealth but seemed pretty determined to have that on their terms.  That's why the negotiations had gone on so late into the night.  They wanted special treatment and Dylan wasn't about to give it to them.  Despite the intensity of the arguing the Ichbeins were still very hospitable and insisted Dylan, Beka, and Harper spend a comfortable night on their planet.

Beka felt her eyelids drooping.  It had been a long day.  She looked at Harper, sitting across from her.  He didn't look tired.  He never really looked tired.  It was like he had a battery that never needed recharging.  But she felt safer having the little ball of energy around.  Forgetting the rain and her fear Beka closed her eyes and went to sleep.  

Harper smirked as Beka fell onto her side, already asleep.  He got out of the bed and arranged the blanket around her.  Beka was a big fan of blankets and Harper knew it.  When he arrived on the Maru he had never seen someone use so many.  When he was sure she was comfortable Harper flicked off the light and walked to her room.

Harper entered Beka's suite and opened the window.  He really did enjoy being planet side again.  The rain had slowed but still splashed him with water droplets through the open window.  He felt the chill of the night air and smelled the wet earth.  Smiling he crawled into the bed.  Beka was like a big sister, or maybe even a mother to him.  No man in their mid-20's wanted to share a bed with their mother.  Particularly if their mother was hot like Beka.  That could lead to an awkward situation.  So he curled up in the nice warm bed, let his senses bask in the wonder of this weather and fell into a sleep as deep as he ever did.

  Beka slept peacefully through the rest of the night in Harper's bed.  Feeling warm and safe she smiled in her sleep.  It was when the sun was just beginning to rise that the trouble began.  The door to Harper's room opened and Beka sat up.  Two men were standing in the doorway and Beka was in their steel grip before she even realized what was going on.  


	2. There were a few problems

Storms

By:  X

X0832001@yahoo.com

Disclaimer:  I own nothing, I am getting no money for any of this.  Just the way I choose to spend my free time.

Rated:  PG-13 (a little bit of cursing)

Summary:  Beka, Dylan and Harper spend some time on a planet.  As one would expect, things don't stay real peachy keen.

"Hey!"  She yelled.  "Let go of me, what is going on anyway?"  They didn't answer her, only dragged her into the hall.  Beka kicked wildly and managed to break free from one when her bare foot connected solidly with the soft back of her captor's knee.  But the other alien only held her tighter until his companion regained his hold.  

            In the hall she found Harper struggling just as she was.  He'd instinctively put his tool belt on this morning but two other natives held his hands far away from the possible weapons.  "Beka!" He called to her.  Seeing his captain, friend, and potential escape assistant the human growled and twisted harder.  Beka could only watch as one of his captors released a sigh and clocked the writhing blond in the back of the head with a tool from the engineer's own belt.  Dazed, blood dripping from a slight wound, the mudfoot calmed down.  

            "Pilot to the Flats, Engineer down below" ordered one of the men barely holding on to Beka who now struggled even more furiously since Harper had been pacified so violently.  But despite her protests, grunts, and the amount of noise she was making the two Andromeda crewmen were dragged down the hall.  At the end was a door to a transport skimmer and a staircase.  "Pilot to the Flats, Engineer down below" came back to her and she moved away from the clear glass door as best she could.  Grunting with effort she pulled the men who held her towards the wall, away from the door.  

            To her surprise the aliens helped push her to the stairs.  It was Harper who was taken to the door.  She felt the forceful hands on her shoulders loosen.  Beka lunged forward in an attempt to break free and get enough room to fight.  This shift in her center of balance allowed the taller of her two captors to give her a push that sent her stumbling back.  Beka found herself at the bottom of the stairs before she could even figure out if this was an advantage or problem.  The last she saw of Harper was the young man being pushed into the open topped car.

            Harper was dizzy and he felt himself being pulled down the hall.    He felt himself fall into a car, his eyes closed. The next thing he felt was cold.  When Harper opened his eyes he was alone in a field.  It was raining heavily, a cold drenching rain.  Wind whipped around him.  They'd taken him north.  The speeder that had brought him here was gone and that wind had blown away any trace of its path.  All signs of civilization were gone.  Harper didn't like the looks of his situation.  He also didn't like not knowing what was happening to Beka, the woman who had saved his life not too many years ago.  

            He had seen them push her down the stairs, he had heard, "Pilot to the Flats, Engineer down below" and knew they thought she was the engineer.  He just hoped they didn't make her actually try and fix something.  It was his personal experience that when you were, for lack of a better term, kidnapped it was not good to disappoint your captors.  Beka could muddle through repairs on the Maru, but she wouldn't fool anyone.

Harper started walking.  He knew all about hypothermia, he'd had it a few times in his life.  Living in a crumbling shack in Boston lent itself well to the condition.  He had to think.  So he walked and thought.  He needed a plan to help Beka and get them out of this mess.  

            Harper was aware that one of the worst things he could do in his current frosty situation would be to stop moving.  He also knew he needed to contact Beka.  It was very hard to coordinate an escape if you were miles from your cohort.  If they had any hope of getting out of this mess he needed to know what was going on with her.  Beka had still been wearing her ear piece headphones when he had seen her being dragged away.  He'd made her those earphones.  They weren't ordinary earphones.  Andromeda had nanobots in their blood so she could trace her crew members.  Harper could trace Beka with these headphones.  

            The mudfoot engineer was thrilled his 6th sense, the danger sense, had kicked in and given him time to strap on his tool belt before he was so rudely dismissed from his room this morning.  Without these supplies he would have had no shot at fixing this mess.  He dug around in the well worn belt and pulled out a little box dangling on the end of a wire with an orange rod on the other end.  His genius mind rapidly weighed the pros and cons of what he was about to do.  By using this device and his port to communicate with Beka he was going to make himself an unresponsive pile in the grass.  It was going to ensure hypothermia and could easily kill him.  The pro of the plan was getting himself, Beka, and therefore Dylan off this planet and back to Andromeda.  He plunged the carrot into the cold metal of his data port and tumbled backwards into the stiff wet grass.

Dylan Hunt had been given regal quarters on the top floor of the palace.  He felt a little guilty about being treated better than his crewmates, but he was sure Beka and Harper wouldn't mind.  Hunt admired the silk wall hangings.  The sun was shining through his window and he could hear a speeder launching and heading north towards the plains.  Dylan sighed.  He actually would have liked to go out and see more of this planet.  But he had responsibilities for the new Commonwealth and had quite a bit of negotiating left to do.  

He was a little surprised when there was a knock at his door and the leader of the Ichbeins entered before he could respond.  The diminutive man was flanked by two large bodyguards.  "Captain Hunt"

"Yes?"  

"We've decided to alter the power structure of these negotiations.  We've temporally disposed of the two crew members you brought.  They are safe enough.  We've added your engineer to our corps and I'm sure your pilot has enough survival training to survive until we reach an agreement.  Hunt immediately realized how miserable Beka and Harper would be.  Harper didn't really play well with others and Beka hated planets.  But, the Ichbein was right, they would be alright.  They would be alright provided he managed to get back to Andromeda with them.  

The Ichbeins led him back to the negotiating room and he fumed silently.  He kicked himself for not bring Tyr, his resident Neitzchien intimidator.  This was not a new trick.  The Ichbeins knew they needed the Commonwealth if they would stand a chance of escape the Maggog World Ship.  Yet, they were reluctant to give up resources to strangers.  They wanted Hunt to be pushed into giving them all milk without buying the cow.  It didn't work that way.  

Beka found herself in a dimly lit work bay.  It smelled like molten metal and the buzzing of a drill of some sort filled the air.  This was Harper's kind of place.  It was certainly not hers.  The men had brought her down here to make her work. They'd led her down a couple levels closed a gate to confine her in the bay they had chosen to imprison her.   From a fellow inmate in her little area Beka learned mechanics were in short supply around here.  The shortage inspired them to be a little protective of any engineer they got their hands on; no matter how morally reproachable their methods of getting that engineer were.  Beka wasn't really surprised; they didn't recognize a tool belt when they saw one.  If they had been able to put one and one together they may have realized the human with the tool belt is the engineer.  They put her to work on fixing a shuttle pod of some kind.  Despite her knowledge of the Maru and her systems Beka knew there was a better chance finding a Nightsider sunbathing on Infinity Atoll than her getting this ship space worthy.  

Beka was also getting the feeling the natives who patrolled the work area were getting suspicious of Beka's mechanical strategy.  She had seen one of the patrolling guards lay into a fellow inmate pretty savagely for dawdling.  Seeing the poor guy kicked around and begging for the guard to stop inspired her to hide her mechanical inadequacy as much as possible.  Her strategy could really be summed up as 'wander around the ship, curse loudly and hit it with a tool from time to time'.  Truth be told to a layman that's exactly what Harper's tinkering looked like.  Of course Harper knew what he was doing and when he hit something with a tool it was the right time, the right tool, or some other combination of skill and luck that Beka simply didn't have.  Maybe he used magic curses.  

Rubbing her temples Beka became more aware of a buzzing in her ear.  She thought her music had started up again, but the display denied it.  She found herself focusing on the buzz and it became clearer.  It was a tiny voice.  It was the tiny voice of Harper.  "Great, I'm crazy.  Crazy people hear voices."  She thought about this for a moment.  "I don't even hear my own voice, or the devil, the voice of my insanity is Harper."

Harper was asking if she could hear him. Figuring if she might as well go along with her own insanity she whispered, "Yeah, I hear you Harper".  

"Took you long enough Boss, that music blowing out your eardrums?"

"Shut up Harper."  She paused a moment before continuing, "Are you really here?"

"Here is a relative term boss.  I'm sort of in a middle of nowhere field somewhere in the middle of nowhere, but I'm also sort of wherever you are."

"That's not at all confusing, how did you get in my head?"

"I'm not in your head; I'm in your earphone."

"Good, I'm not cracking up"

"You thought you were cracking up?"

"It's been a rough few hours, give me a break mudfoot."  It was then Beka realized some of her fellow tool jockeys were casting perplexed looks in her direction.  She realized her whisper had become a normal conversational tone she was sharing with empty air.  She slid gracelessly under the ship she was supposed to be fixing and made a great deal of noise to convince the others she was working.  Harper was still speaking in her ear.

"What's going on Boss?"

"I'm supposed to make this Junker space worthy.  They think I'm the mechanic."

"Well, let's see what we can do about that.  What does this thing look like?"  

Harper really was an amazing fellow.  Not that Beka would swell his head by telling him, but she was impressed right now. Harper directed her on what to do based solely on her admittedly vague descriptions.  They had been working for a few hours now and it seemed like the ship might run again soon.  

"The banana looking thingy is dangling."

"What's a banana?"  Admittedly some cultural differences were slowing up the pace.

"It's a tropical fruit from your planet, mudfoot.  It looks like a chubby curved thing."

"Ah, yellow or silver?"

"Yellow, hence the banana description."

"You are looking at the Slip drift block cylinder.  It should not be dangling.  Jam it back in the little hole and secure it between the thing that looks like a CD and the think that looks like a muffin with eyes."

Beka did as she was told; poking around in the little hole until she found something that to her amazement actually did look like a muffin with eyes.    She slid the banana into place and rolled out from under the ship.

"Now, check to see if there is a can of soup looking thing near the muffin.  It might be cracked."

"Hold on slave driver, give me a minute to rest."

"Sure Boss"

Beka sat cross legged on the floor and sighed.  She was tired and hungry.  This being a prisoner thing really sucked.  She saw the guard coming towards her.  He was scowling.  "You done yet?"    

"Almost, just have to adjust the flow regulator and realign the Chrome buffer ports" she told him, having no idea what she was talking about or if these were real parts of a ship.

"So you aren't done yet"

"Not quite."  Beka did not like the look crossing his face.

"Not good enough"

            Harper heard flesh against flesh.  The sound of someone being hit was something he was entirely too familiar with.  Fury built in him knowing the victim of this situation was Beka.  She had saved his life plenty of times so he gave her the best advice he could; advice based on his own miserable experiences.

            "Do not cry" he ordered with great conviction.  "Eyes down and just be quite, it'll be over faster that way- trust me on this one."  

            Tears stung Beka's eyes but she listened to Harper's commands.  She didn't know much about what Harper had been through in his short life, but she did know enough to believe him. Years ago, not long after Harper joined her crew she had discovered his previous employer had been far from compassionate.  She had seen the scars that marred her friend's skin.  So Beka shut up, kept her eyes locked on her feet and didn't cry.  Unamused and disappointed the guard knocked her to the cold floor with a push and just walked away.  "Damn Bully" said Harper in her ear.  

            "Are you OK?" he asked a few minutes later, after he had given her time to recompose herself.  

            "Yeah, he just hit me around a bit, nothing broken."

            "Good, we going to get back to that engine anytime soon?"

            "Uh, sure"

Beka was still a little off because of the guard's attack.  She was tough.  Her life certainly had never been a picnic.  She'd had her share of scrapes with drunks who didn't know no means no and rough customers.  But this had been the first time someone had belted her as if she were a lower being.  In her life she had been in fights many times, sometimes they came to blows.  But, this was not like a bar fight.  The guard had hit her because he felt he had the right to.  In his opinion she wasn't working hard enough so he hit her to make his point.  The injustice made her mad.  

              Mad was actually an emotion she could harness in her situation.  Her bodiless friend laughed.  "You are going to make him sorry aren't you?"

            "You're supposed to be a super genius and had to ask that?" 

            "Just making sure the boss I know and love is still there"

            "Oh Beka Valentine isn't going anywhere Harper.  How do you suggest we get out of this mess?"

            "Well, as you mentioned I am a super genius and have put together a few thoughts."


	3. But it all worked out

Storms

By:  X

X0832001@yahoo.com

Disclaimer:  I own nothing, I am getting no money for any of this.  Just the way I choose to spend my free time.

Rated:  PG-13 (a little bit of cursing)

Summary:  Beka, Dylan and Harper spend some time on a planet.  As one would expect, things don't stay real peachy keen.

Tyr growled as he paced the command deck.  He did not like this.  Dylan had not contacted the ship.  Captain Valentine had not checked in and the little professor hadn't even requested a status report on Andromeda's systems as he was prone to do.  This worried the Neitzchien.  Well, not exactly worried; Neitzchiens did not worry about humans.  Still, the security officer was interested in knowing what was going on with his shipmates.  Trance strolled onto the deck, her gold skin shining in the dim light.  

            "Tyr, any word yet?"

            "No" he grumbled.  The mysterious alien frowned.  

            "Something is wrong." 

            "Is that one of your predictions?"

            "Dose it matter?  You feel it too, something isn't right.  Call Dylan."  Tyr paced and shook his head.  It would be viewed as a sign we don't trust the Ichbeins.  It may ruin the negotiations.  We will wait for him to contact us."  Trance frowned.  "Ship, enhance sensor readings.  I want to know where they are."

            The transparent image of Andromeda's hologram appeared before Tyr and Trance.  Dylan is in the palace- presumably in the negotiations.  Beka is nearby in a large building filled with ships.  Harper is several miles away, apart from any city or settlement."    This did not ease Tyr's mind.  

"Their life signs?"  

"Fine, though Harper appears to be in one of his trances.  Respiration and heart rate both greatly reduced."  Andromeda tilted her head to one side a little as she analyzed some more incoming data.  "Reduced more than usual actually"

"Keep a close watch on all of them."  

Tyr resumed his pacing, his mind filled with what his course of action should be.  He did not like being this much in the dark.  He wanted to know what was going on.  "Can you contact the little professor?"  Andromeda shook her holographic head.

"I tried.  He isn't responding."

"Damn" muttered the Neitzchien.  "I never thought I would want to hear his senseless babble."  He had a bad feeling about this situation.  He agreed with Trance, something didn't feel right.  His pacing feet carried him to Hunt's chair and he plunked himself down.  "Contact Dylan."

Dylan Hunt appeared on the screen moments later.  "Uh, hey Tyr" he said nervously.  Tyr could hear the Captain's pounding heart.  The human was trying to be covert.  Trying and doing a poor job in Tyr's opinion.  

"Is everything alright captain?  Our readings indicate Harper and Beka aren't with you."

            "Oh, yeah, they're around here somewhere.  I can't really be bothered looking for them.  I'm sure the Ichbeins won't let anything happen to them during these negotiations."  Tyr understood clearly now.  They were hostages.  "So just stay calm and I'll see you back on Andromeda.  Dylan out."

            Tyr hated waiting.  He would like to blow a large chunk out of the Ichbein home world.  But, since Dylan had the Maru he had no way of getting Beka or Harper back himself.  Not that he planed to just let things play out easily for these aliens.  He would take that chunk out the minute he learned his friends had been harmed.  Like the rest of his species, Tyr was a little overprotective of his group.  He'd let Hunt do his talking, try for a peaceful end to this.  But, make no mistake, if the kluge's life signs began to falter, or Beka popped off the sensor map; weapon fire would commence.

            As they worked out a plan Beka realized exactly how intangible Harper was.  He explained he was actually miles away in a rain saturated field.  His consciousness was actually still trapped in that immobile shell, his brain wasn't in her earphone as she had thought.  An earphone wasn't nearly complex enough to hold all that information.  Andromeda could, but she was a supercomputer.  So Harper was using the earphone as a relay, but still trapped and unable to operate his own body while he was connected to Beka. In fact he knew Andromeda had tried to contact him, he simply had no way to answer them.  He really needed call waiting.   All this meant he really couldn't do much more than plan Beka's escape and hope she found him before he froze to death.  When it came to the actual running Beka was going to be on her own.  

            When the plan came together it really was simple.  They had just fixed a ship.  Simply use the ship to get back to Andromeda.  Once on their ship Beka could use Andromeda's sensors to find out where on the planet Harper was and they could alert Dylan to go find the boy. The only kink was getting past the security.  The Ichbeins really didn't make a habit of letting their hostages come and go as they pleased.  They did let them work on their ships though.  The plan was to take a test drive, and just not come back.  It was risky.  Beka's captors would know she was leaving, and be watching.  Harper was pretty sure by the time they realized something wasn't right it would be too late.  Beka hoped he was right.  

            Captain Valentine strode up to her supervisor.  "I need to take a test flight in the AS-400."  Harper had figured from her description that was the ship they were dealing with.  

"I'll do it.  You stay here missy."  Beka processed that kink in the plan.  She'd talk her way out of it, it worked for years before and it would work now.

"No problem.  I mean with all the time I've spent on Andromeda I'm a little rusty with this type of ship.  I mean the technology isn't even compatible.  Positive ion flow, negative, I'm pretty sure I got it right but I'd hate to be the pilot if it blew.  Thanks for being the guinea pig man."  She smiled and turned back to her work station.  

"Uh, maybe you should go.  If something goes wrong you'll have a better idea of what to do."

"As you wish sir.  I'm sure it'll be fine."  Beka couldn't repress her smile.  The big idiot was giving the OK for her escape.  His superiors were going to be pissed about this one.  

Beka strapped herself into the seat.  Harper was in her ear again.  "We ready boss?"

"Sure kid, we can give it a go.  What do we have to lose?  Just our lives."

"Exactly.  Well, your life anyway.  Some beautiful Wilderness woman could still wander by and make me her love slave."

"Hold your breath on that one Seamus."  She let her fingers key in the complex operation code and felt the shift as the little ship accelerated along the ground.  "You better have given good instructions Harper!"  She commanded as the ship took to the air.  Beka directed the ship up towards the atmosphere and was just breaking through when the prison people finally realized their mistake.  

The Ichbeins did send a few ships after the fleeing human, but they knew they were too late.  As soon as Beka had escaped the dampening affects of the atmosphere she had called Tyr.  The Neitzchien was quick to defend her and it was only minutes before Beka was safely on board the Andromeda again.  

Tyr looked at Captain Valentine.  She looked more than a little worse for wear.  Her posture was stooped, her eyes betrayed her fatigue.  A bruise marred her lovely completion.  "We have to get Harper" she explained urgently.  "Tell Dylan we are safe and that he needs to pick up Harper."

 "Andromeda, scan the planet for him."  Beka demanded.  Turning to the Neitzchien she explained.  He stopped talking right after I took off, something may be wrong."  

"Northern continent coordinates 204.17.126, he's alone- no guards.  I am alerting Dylan."  Andromeda supplied

"Good.  Now we will visit the med deck Captain Valentine."

"I'm fine; we need to get Harper back first."

"Captain, passing out is not going to get the boy back here any faster.  Dylan is down there, he has the Maru and he will bring the little professor back here. As I have already accepted in our situation there is no way to help.  We just have to wait."

            Dylan Hunt sat in the Ichbein conference room, holding firm to his standards as best he could.  The aliens' threats against his crew members kept him negotiating.    "You must provide SOME military support to the new Commonwealth"

"Captain, I think you need to be a little more flexible.  Think of your crewmen."  Dylan grumbled to himself.  "Your ship is contacting you again.  Please tell them to stop." Andromeda appeared on a small screen in front of him.   Dylan smiled at the news she provided. 

"When you learn how to conduct negotiations, let me know."  With that, Dylan pushed back from the table and walked out of the room.  

            The Maru touched down in a field.  These were the cooridinates Andromeda had provided.  Out here in the middle of nowhere was where Harper was supposed to be.  Hunt rushed from the ship and began surveying the field for his engineer.  He saw some of the tall grass out of alignment and hurrired towards what he saw. He was correct, the grass was being held down by the prone body of Harper.

            Harper's skin was gray and cold.  As Dylan pulled the limp body to his feet he could feel the younger man was drenched.  Hunt had no illusions that Harper had been spared hypothermia. Rain was pouring all around him and wind blew strongly. His engineer was past the point of shivering.  That caused fear to grow in the captain.  Notes from his survival training class back at the academy came rushing back into his head like a tidal wave.  This was an emergency situation.  Hunt carried his little handy man to the waiting Maru.  He hoped they weren't too late.  

            When the Maru docked Trance was the first on board and was already unstraping her friend by the time Beka pushed her way on board.  "Will he be OK?" she asked urgently.  

            "Hypothermia, but nothing broken.  He'll recover."  He was still eerily still.  Trance unplugged the connector from Harper's port.  He responded by moaning and moving his neck ever so slowly.  "You back with us?" she asked him.

            "Beka…Ok?" he stuttered as shivers took hold of his weakened body.

            "Fine Seamus" Beka stepped closer and waved at him a little.  Trance wrapped Harper in blanket after blanket.  

            "The...bastard...got...your...your…pretty face."

            "Yeah"

            "They always g-g-get us beautiful p-p-p-people."

            "The bastards" Beka smiled at her friend

            "The b-b-bastards" he agreed

            "We need to get you out of those wet clothes immediately Trance ordered, bearing most of his weight as she led him down to med deck.  

            They were both a little weather beaten, but it looked like things had cleared up pretty well. 


End file.
